1/48 SMER MiG-17F Fresco-C

Gallery Article by Kusumah AR on Nov 8 2012

 

 

Hello... My name Kusumah AR from Indonesia and this model is first my contribution to ARC.  I try to build this kit, SMER (Polish) MiG-17F Fresco-C Scale 1/48 with the 11th Squadron/Angkatan Udara Republik Indonesia insignia (early 1970) for celebrating Indonesia Independence at August 17th 2011.  When I bought this kit in December 2009, pricing was around USD 30.  My opinion for this 1/48 SMER MiG-17F  kit is not too bad.  The panel lines is nice engraved, but too deep.  The precision parts are also poor and needed a lot putty (especially between the wings and fuselage).  Cockpit interior was standard and I built it out of the box.  More point to me for this kit because SMER gives the option of super decals for Angkatan Udara Republik Indonesia (maybe the only regular kit MiG-17F in 1/48 with the option for Indonesian Air Force insignia), Egypt Air Force, Cekoslovakia Air Force, and Polish Air Force.  This kit also includes some parts to build the Lim-6bis variant (only for the Polish Air Force).

 

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First step, I began with building cockpit and painting the interior with base standard colour Tamiya XF-25 Dark Grey (dashboard & floor) and Tamiya XF-70 Dark Green (ejection seat).  For detail I used decal cockpit, Snowman Drawing Paintmarker (silver, black, yellow, red), and paint brush (for extra tools when painting specific details).  My second job was building the fuselage, tailfin, completed main wings, back wings, landing gear, and drop tank.  For smooth seams, I used Tamiya putty and power glue.  Don't forget install a bold steel 6 gram weight in the front of the kit to keep the nose wheel on the ground. For the glass canopy, I used Tamiya tape for masking.  Finally I merged the cockpit, fuselage, tailfin, main wings, back wings, glass canopy, and drop tank. 

My next job is painting the exterior of my model.  I used Pylox Silver 124 for colored the skin aircraft.  For the landing gear, I used Pylox Silver 124 and Pylox Flat Black 109A (only for tears)... After it was dry, I'm continued with decaling AURI insignia (with beautiful thunder on the tailfin and main wings...) and finally covered with Pylox Clear 128.  Because the MiG-17F have an afterburning ring in exhaust turbojet engine Klimov VK-1F, I colored this part with Pylox Gold 123.  For finishing, I weathering panel lines with Snowman Drawing Point (No.01,02, and 03), and merge the landing gear.  I needed around 22 days in January 2011 finish this model. 

I hope you like it... Enjoy!

Kusumah AR

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Photos and text © by Kusumah Arsanul Rokhman